What Is The Stornoway Trust?

The Stornoway Trust is a community organisation that owns a 28,000 hectare swathe of the Isle of Lewis.

The organisation was set up in 1923 after the then owner of the Isle of Lewis, Lord Leverhulme, offered the estate to its people. The move was incredibly enlightened for its day, probably around 80 years ahead of its time.

Run by a democratically elected board of trustees, the estate comprises a mix of croft land, agricultural land, industrial land, woodland, quarries, property, and shooting and fishing rights. The 10 strong board of trustees are elected on a rolling basis every three years, with each of the trustees serving for six years. Everyone on the electoral roll within the parish of Stornoway is entitled to vote in the elections.

The trust, then, is a democratically elected community landlord which together with management of the estate, ploughs profits back into the community through a range of commercial, cultural and economic developments. They also stive to "promote development in the following areas – social, industrial, economic, culture, education, and recreation."

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